Seated Man in Yellow Chair

"For although he admired the work of his contemporaries, Richard Diebenkorn, Wayne Thiebaud, Clyfford Still, Frank Lobdell, among others, he had chosen to explore a less fashionable but more traditional subject for great art, the mysteries of the human figure and their relation to other living creatures. Nate has been quoted as having once said and written, "I'm not part of the avant-garde, I'm part of the garde that comes afterwards, assimilates, consolidates, refines."

Paul Berg, "Recollections of a Friendship," Nathan Oliveira: A memorial exhibition, San Francisco, 2011, p. 10.